THE LEADER of Oldham Council, Cllr David Jones, has hit back at suggestions the town is a ghetto with racial division on a par with American cities such as Los Angeles,

THE LEADER of Oldham Council, Cllr David Jones, has hit back at suggestions the town is a ghetto with racial division on a par with American cities such as Los Angeles.

A new study from an Australian academic, "The new geography of ethnicity in Britain", was presented to the Royal Geographical Society's annual conference in London.

It said Oldham is at risk of long-term social problems if growing ethnic isolation is not addressed. The research found that some British towns and cities are in the "major league" of segregation, ranking in the top 50 alongside New York, Miami and LA. Oldham along with Leicester and Bradford were classified as "ghettos". Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups were most isolated.

The study was carried out by Dr Mike Poulsen, a lecturer in geography at Macquarie University in Sydney.

But Cllr Jones described the report as "misguided".

He said: "Just because people from different ethnic backgrounds tend to live in different areas isn't necessarily a problem. It only becomes one if people from different communities don't come into contact with each other, so that fears, myths and prejudice build up.

"We want to make Oldham a place in which people from any ethnic background can choose to live where they want. The council is not in the business of forcing integration. We are doing all we can to improve conditions for all residents of the borough,"

Cllr Jones pointed to examples such as the school linking programme, Oldham's recent Pride event, and making the council's workforce more representative of Oldham's population.